


The Night

by Monoi



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - Post-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Drama & Romance, Eventual Fluff, F/M, Magical Pregnancy, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23771665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monoi/pseuds/Monoi
Summary: When his gaze had landed on her pregnant belly, she had felt herself dying. That was the worst thing. Loving Harry and carrying a child who was not his. For the umpteenth time, she had wondered how it had been possible.Ginny Weasley, sixteen (almost seventeen) years old, was in the ninth month of unwanted pregnancy, the evening of May 1, 1998. The same evening, she thought that being pregnant was not even the worst thing that happened to her.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley
Comments: 3
Kudos: 11





	1. Around midnight

Ginny Weasley, sixteen (almost seventeen) years old, was in the ninth month of unwanted pregnancy, the evening of May 1, 1998. The same evening, she thought that being pregnant was not even the worst thing that happened to her.

She was trying to sleep, lying on a sofa in the Room of Requirement where the members of Dumbledore's Army had fled. For several weeks, resting in a relaxed position was more torment than anything else, and Ginny did not know which way to turn to find some relief. And to think that her mother had gone six times through that, and on one occasion the children who had weighed down her belly were two!

But it wasn't merely physical discomfort. Gradually, like the waves of the tide, the grief rose to overcome Ginny's heart. At first, it had manifested itself as a trembling in the knees. She confused it with anxiety for many weeks. Alone, without the father for her son and the support of her family, she found herself pregnant at the beginning of her sixth year of school. It had been almost more difficult than her first year at Hogwarts.

In the following months, as the physical manifestations of her state became more evident, the pressure had become concrete through sharp pains in the stomach. The feeling of nausea assailed her often. It had little to do with the child pressing her abdomen and much to do with the gossip she was subject to, some worst than others. In those months, Ginny was sometimes ashamed: pregnant at sixteen, without knowing who was her baby's father, and still severely in love and worried about the fate of her ex-boyfriend. 

It wasn't the shame, but the guilt pushed her to empty her stomach in the school's bathrooms. The guilt she felt not so much towards Harry, but towards herself. He had left her, she had no obligation to him, and she didn't think she had double-crossed him. 

She betrayed herself and her love for him in the first place. She had been disappointed on herself, and when she was most suffering, nausea and the grip on her stomach became so intense that she could not hold back her vomit.

Shortly before, that same May evening, Ginny had realized that to make her head burst had been seeing the gaze of Harry. He was thin, dirty and exhausted. He laid his eyes on her, as soon as he had seen her in the Room of Requirement. Her heart broke in half, seeing the hint of a smile between his eyes, and knowing that a few more moments would have been enough to make it disappear.

When his gaze had landed on her pregnant belly, she had felt herself dying. That was the worst thing. Loving Harry and carrying a child who was not his. For the umpteenth time, she had wondered how it had been possible. Her head began to throb with an unbearable ache.

"Ginny, you are very pale ..." Demelza whispered, worried by her friend's poor condition."It's late, it's better if you rest a little," Parvati suggested, and Demelza grabbed Ginny gently by the elbow. She had turned to follow them, not without hearing an excited noise behind her.

"Leave her alone ..." Neville was saying to someone, maybe Ron, maybe Harry, or both. She heard Hermione's voice telling someone to stay calm.

The three girls walked to the back of the Room of Requirement. There, Ginny sat on a large sofa leaning against the wall, far enough to prevent the voices of her brother and her friends to reach her. She was hidden barely to avoid being seen by them.

After Christmas, it became clear to everyone that a child was growing inside her. The gossip had spread like wildfire in Hogwarts. Everything had been said about her. 

Romilda Vane insisted that the father was Dean Thomas. 

Pansy Parkinson was convinced that her baby was the son of Harry Potter. 

Zacharias Smith claimed there were too many guys Ginny had been with that she didn't know who to blame. 

The Carrows decided to believe Pansy Parkinson. Alecto was determined to use the Veritaserum to gain from Ginny, the truth about her baby's father. It was as bright as the sun that Harry Potter's child would be a most welcome gift for their Dark Lord. He still remembered Madame Pomfrey's screams: "That's poison for pregnant women! You can't use it! Go to Snape, he knows who the father is! He saw it with Legilimancy!"

And Snape had told the Carrow the truth he had stolen from her, right from the beginning, from the very first days she discovered the pregnancy. She did not know who the father of that child was. She had been with two different boys at the same time. The headmaster had pointed out with acid irony that none of them was Harry Potter. 

Despite everything, Ginny never cried. She hadn't cried when she found out of her pregnancy, and she hadn't cried during her nights awake, sleepless at the decision to make. Ginny had never complained, although she sometimes felt terrified of that situation. In the end, she had decided to keep the baby, and she had decided not to succumb to the shame that everyone would have wanted her to experience. That decision had cost her family. The Ministry held the Weasley responsible for the pregnancy of their pureblood daughter and minor. It was from September 1 that she no longer had any contact with her family. She knew that her parents had been summoned by Snape, but she had been forbidden to see them.

She had no idea why the potion, which she had taken conscientiously since the spring of the previous year, had not worked. Even when Ginny and Harry broke up, she had decided to continue taking it, as it helped her decrease her menstrual pain. A large number of girls of her age took it. Still, something had gone wrong, as Snape had not failed to point out when he discovered the pregnancy. 

She had not even cried when she came to the conclusion that she really couldn't know who her baby's father was. She had tried a thousand and a thousand times to calculate the odds of getting pregnant in Diagon Alley or the Burrow the day after Bill's wedding. Still, there was nothing that could indicate when it really happened, and especially with whom.

She hadn't cried, Ginny, not even all those times when she had wondered why she had behaved so carelessly. She just tried to grab some love in a world that collapsed miserably around her. The suffering and uncertainty felt after her farewell to Harry, despite the courage with which she had faced it, had weakened her spirit more than she had believed. 

Perhaps, firewhiskey drunk secretly confused her mind and heart so much that her body had not withstood the tragedy. The days leading up to Bill's wedding had been a confusing glimmer of anxiety and danger. The images overlapped in her mind amid flashes of blinding light. She remembered the tense face of Dean when he met him in Diagon Alley before his escape. The bright smile of Lee, with whom she had hidden at the Burrow in an attempt to escape the Death Eaters. Harry's tears at the pond, on the evening of his seventeenth birthday. 

Despite repeating herself over and over that she had done nothing wrong, Ginny puked the sense of guilt she couldn't help feeling. Because in the end, she still loved Harry, with a total and desperate love, so much that she kept thinking about him day and night. Night after night, Ginny relived the last kiss she had given him at the Burrow and wondered what the hell had gone into her head, going to bed with the other two. She didn't even remember what it had been like, and to think it was her first time with Dean. That first time she had dreamed of living with Harry, and that for a few short weeks, she had been truly convinced she would live.

In the end, Romilda and Zacharias were both right. Although the names of the two boys had not been made public, everyone knew that Harry Potter was not the father of Ginny's baby. Still, the rumours and exaggerations had not subsided.

Someone, whose identity had never been discovered, suggested that Ginny was too cute and that six brothers were too many. Perhaps the baby's father was someone too close to be revealed. Such a thing could only have been thought of by a Slytherin. 

The entire Gryffindor house had firmly opposed that outrageous gossip. The Weasley brothers, none excluded, were loved and well regarded. The affront, for many of them, had been taken on a personal level. 

Lavanda and Parvati had felt so offended by that horrible rumour, that they had lined up alongside Ginny. In the last, difficult months, they worked hard and stayed close to her, helping her coping the difficulties of that pregnancy. 

"Do you need anything?" Parvati asked her, with a kindness Ginny had to get used to.

"No thanks, I'm okay. Maybe it's only late, and it's better if I go to sleep ... " Ginny replied.

"They are so thin..." Demelza let out with a sigh and turned to the group of dirty and thin guys who was talking to Neville.

"Ron didn't know about it ... did he?" Parvati asked, pointing to her baby bump.

"I do not know. I do not believe it. I don't know what happened to my parents, or to my brothers. Neville managed to retrieve some information only recently. All my family had gone into hiding after Death Eaters found out that Ron was with Harry. "

"Luckily you were here in Hogwarts, Ginny. "

"Snape's prisoner, you mean. Maybe it would have been better if I had been with my family... "

"Bad luck, Ginny. That potion you took ... I mean, any of us girls could have it, and now any of us could be in your situation. "

"Yeah, " she said, lying on the sofa. "But it fell to me." 

She turned to the wall, trying to sleep. She had never cried yet, but on that evening in early May, when she first saw Harry after all those months, tears had made their way to her face. 

* * *

Harry Potter barely had time to catch a glimpse of his ex-girlfriend. He hadn't seen Ginny for months, almost a year. Now he saw her, among the familiar faces. A lot of students had taken refuge in the Room of Requirement. The flaming hair immediately attracted him, and his gaze was lost for a few seconds in her dark and intense eyes. But she lowered her head, turning to walk away, and left him there, troubled and amazed with Ron and Hermione.

Despite those few moments, his gaze had enough time to register her full and round belly. Ginny was pregnant. The heart stopped inside his chest, then release and blocked again. He snapped at her, the questions crowding his mind, one after the other, terror, amazement and bewilderment.

"Leave her alone, Harry ..." Neville Longbottom said to him, who grabbed his shoulder and held him back, preventing him from following Ginny.

"I have to talk to her, Neville! Let me go! " 

"Stay calm, Harry! Let's listen first to Neville ..." Hermione tried to convince him.

"But ..." Harry whispered. He stopped, without words, and looked in amazement the back of his ex-girlfriend. She was leaving with her companions. He tried to shake off that numbness and run after her, but Neville's hand on his shoulder tightened more and more with every attempt to follow her.

"She's... very pregnant", Ron whispered by his side, eyes wide as they followed his sister's fatigued steps. "Who's the father?" He asked Neville. The boy stared at him for a long time, his gaze serious, letting a sigh escape from his lips, before crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't know," he replied finally. 

"Come on, Nev! She has a huge belly! She will give birth in days, and nobody told me anything!" Ron shouted at him, the first to shake off the amazement that had caught the three off guard.

"She was supposed to give birth two days ago", Neville replied calmly, while he was tormenting his lower lip with his teeth.

Harry's heart pounded in his chest. A thousand thoughts overlapped in his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly. For a moment the Horcruxes, Voldemort, the war went into the background, then sadly returned to the top of his thoughts. Ginny. Pregnant. The terror became something substantial at the pit of the stomach, and he raised his voice.

"Then why is she here? This is the most dangerous place in all of England! She should be at St Mungo now!" He hissed.

"But here is Madame Pomfrey. And if things go wrong, Professor McGonagall has agreed with Aberforth to get her to the Hog's Head through the passage." Neville replied, while still holding him back.

"But how is it that Ginny is going to have a baby and we knew nothing about it? We've been to Bill's until now ..." Hermione said, still incredulous.

"I don't know if Bill is informed. I don't know if nobody knows, out of here. "

"But ... why?"

"It's a somewhat complicated situation ..."

"Of course, it's complicated! Ginny is a minor! Who's the father?" Hermione asked, but silenced almost immediately.

"I don't know," Neville repeated, embarrassed. "We don't know," he concluded, looking away from the three fellows he had just accompanied inside the walls of Hogwarts.

Ron's eyes, at that moment, rested for a second too long on Harry, who was staring at where he had seen his ex-girlfriend disappear. The brain was stuck in one vast concept. Ginny. Pregnant. Next to childbirth, moreover. In those long months, he had never seen her: a baby had been conceived and was now ready to be born. But she was on the potion, wasn't she? Harry wondered, stunned. Ginny was pregnant, she was about to give birth. 

"Why you don't know who the father is?" Hermione asked, trying to bring logic and reasonableness into that absurd conversation. It was already ridiculous that Ginny was pregnant, even more, stupid than she was still in Hogwarts, in those conditions.

"Ginny doesn't know", Neville replied after long moments of silence.

"How the hell does she not know who she fucked with?" Ron snapped irritably, giving Harry a further sidelong glance.

"Ronald! Is that the language to use when you talk about your sister?" Hermione scolded him.

Neville sighed. He turned mainly to Ron. "It's complicated ... When the teachers found out that she was pregnant, right after Christmas, she didn't tell anyone who the father was. It seems that your parents have been informed, but she has not been able to speak to them. "

"So what? She doesn't want to say it, but it's not that she doesn't know who he is. Just ask her ... " suggested Ron.

"The Carrow tried to ask her too, but she was adamant. They were about to force her to take Veritaserum. They wanted to force her to speak, but Madame Pomfrey opposed it because potions of that type hurt a lot, when a witch is pregnant. "

"What idiots. " Hermione snapped.

Ron swallowed heavily and set his eyes on Neville. "Why did they want to know it to the point of using Veritaserum?"

"They thought the father was ... Harry." The young Longbottom replied, glancing sideways at his schoolmate. "Some of the Slytherins apparently reported that you were together last year, and the Carrow thought that You-know-who would be interested in having ... this kind of information."

Silence fell on the quartet. Harry confirmed that his fears were more than well-founded. At that moment, he hoped that Ginny had been with another guy and that the baby was not his...

"In the end, what did they find out?" Hermione asked, pale and worried.

"Veritaserum wasn't actually needed, because Snape cast a Legilimancy spell on Ginny as soon as he found out about the baby. And apparently, he knew it long before Christmas. "

"Snape?" Harry exclaimed. It almost seemed that the air around him was freezing, at the idea that Snape had read Ginny's mind. 

"So what? What did Snape find out?" Ron whispered, taking another look at Harry. "That Ginny ... was with ... together with ..." Neville stopped talking, cleared his throat and stared at an indefinite point far above Hermione's shoulder. "It's embarrassing to say." the boy concluded, lowering his head in his hands. "Ginny is your sister, Ron..."

"Together with whom?" Ron asked, pale. As Neville was not responding, he turned to Harry, his gaze serious. "Dude, do you have something to tell us ?" he asked, while Hermione instinctively got between the two, fearing what would happen. Harry raised his chin and prepared to stand up to him.

"She wasn't with Harry." Neville hurriedly pointed out, determined to defeat his personal embarrassment to avoid a scuffle between the two. "Ginny ... has been with ... two other guys, but not with Harry." 

"Two?" Ron snapped, amazed.

"But how?" Echoed Hermione. 

"What?" Harry whispered incredulously. "With whom?" he repeated in a slightly more firm voice. Harry wasn't really sure if he really wanted to know, but something burned inside him. He tried to think that he had left her. He could not think of having any exclusivity on her. She could do what she wanted, and they hadn't promised anything ... 

Neville sighed again. He tormented his earlobe with his thumb and forefinger, as he often did when he was nervous and embarrassed. It was a bit painful, in fact. He had to deal with revealing to Ginny's brother and an ex-boyfriend that the girl became pregnant at sixteen, but that the child had two probable fathers.

"Ginny doesn't want to say it. She doesn't want anyone to take on such a responsibility. After giving birth, the specific spell will be made, we will know who the father is, with absolute certainty, and then she will decide what to do ".

"But ..." Hermione tried to say something.

"Snape obviously knows who they are. But he didn't reveal their names, he says Ginny is right to wait for the baby to be born. She doesn't know which of the two ... er ... is the right one. It seems to have happened ... around the same time. " Neville's face betrayed the embarrassment of telling those details, details that he was pretty sure did not make Ron or Harry happy.

"And now nothing can be done to find out?" Asked Hermione.

"Apparently not." 

The silence stretched again among the four boys, lost in long reasoning. Although Ginny owed him nothing, and although he was almost relieved that the baby was another's, Harry felt disappointed. He found himself thinking that almost after the initial dizziness, the idea of a child with Ginny was not that bad. All that was terrifying, but at the same time, Harry seemed to feel a certain warmth inside his heart. And now, he only felt a great void.

"You said Ginny was due two days ago." Hermione snapped to Neville.

"Yup. It seems that with the first child, it is common for birth to be late than expected. At least that's what Madame Pomfrey says. " 

"And then, if we do a couple of accounts, this baby should have been conceived this summer." Hermione's tone went from confident to hesitant. He looked for Ron.

"Who was Ginny dating at that time? We were with her until Bill's wedding, and I don't think she was seeing anyone ... "

"It would have happened after we ran away, Hermione ... " Ron replied, running a hand through his hair.

"But the Burrow has always been supervised. I mean, these two guys can't be strangers. It must be someone we know ... " she continued.

"I know, but ... what a mess. My sister is about to give birth to a baby! She doesn't even know who the father is! " said Ron, who didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"The Ministry has taken away Ginny from your parents, because she is pureblood and minor, and they had not watched enough to prevent yes ... well ... she became pregnant with a Muggle-born."

At that point, Harry, who until then had kept his eyes on the floor, had looked at Neville.

"A Muggle-born?" He asked, mentally reviewing all the Muggle-born boys he knew. 

"Yes, Snape knows that one, or maybe both, is a Muggle-born. That's why the Ministry prevented Ginny from going home and having contact with your parents." Neville concluded, turning to Ron.

"Which is not a completely negative thing. Otherwise, Ginny would have to hide with my parents after we fled Villa Malfoy," muttered Ron.

"I told you it's a complicated situation ... but I still think it could have turned out much worse than that." Neville concluded.

"Yeah." Harry said, heading for the door "It could have been much worse." He turned on himself, his voice cold and expressionless, while his gaze rested in turn on the faces of the three people in front of him. "It could have been my child, couldn't them? And then it would have been a big problem for Ginny."

And amid the astonishing silence, he turned to go in search of the last Horcrux.


	2. Before sunrise

"Harry Potter is dead. Harry Potter has been killed. "

The longest night of Ginny Weasley's life had just begun. 

Everything that had happened up to that point had been frighteningly faint when Voldemort's voice rang out.

Ginny had felt the first contractions still when she was in front of Fred's body. In the beginning, she had not even realized that the pain did not come from her chest. There, her heart collapsed from anguish. The real pain was in her abdomen. Ginny had stopped on the spot, trying to breathe, trying to record what was happening to her. Of all the moments to choose from, her baby had decided to come into the world the night when the battle raged. The night when death had clawed her family and friends.

Around her, there were only screams and tears, Fred's blood, the air soaked with the smell of death. A little further on, the bodies of Tonks and Remus. She didn't know if it was the pain in her chest or in her belly that made her vomit. She had taken a few steps towards the entrance, distancing herself from Bill who had embraced her until then, but her brother had not been fooled.

A quick exchange of glances with Fleur and both had accompanied her back to the Room of Requirement. They entrusted her to the care of Winkie, with the promise of returning as soon as possible. Ginny had watched them as they left, wondering if she would ever see them again. She wished one of the two had stayed with her. Still, she was aware that everyone's participation was needed to defeat the Death Eaters and Voldemort at the time. Bill and Fleur were both formidable duelists, and their input could have been fundamental.

She wished she too was down in the Great Hall with her family. She wanted to be at Harry's side, like Ron and Hermione. Harry, who nonetheless she continued to love with all of herself. At some point, she had even thought of going down and fighting. She knew that magic differently flowed, powerfully, since she had her child in her. She knew that if she launched curses, they would be able to overwhelm many enemies. But the most important thing was to protect her child from it all.

Below, there were Dean and Lee. Both had come to fight the Death Eaters together with the rest of Dumbledore's Army. For several weeks, she had come to the conclusion that she didn't care who the father of her baby was. Her child would have been born the same. They would grow up in the Burrow, with the affection of his grandparents and uncles, a Weasley like the others, perhaps just a little darker than the others. There would have been no need to ask anyone else to take any responsibility.

And then, the shout: "Harry Potter is dead. Harry Potter has been killed." Ginny forgot the excruciating pain and loneliness, she even forgot that her child had decided to be born that night. With exasperating slowness, she stood up.

Dressed only in the nightgown that Fleur had forced her to wear, she left the room of necessities. Like a ghost, she wandered through the corridors of the castle to reach the main entrance. Stunned and numb by the news of Harry's death, it had seemed to her that nothing had any meaning anymore.

Soon, the roar of the battle reached her. Time appeared infinite to her, she turned towards the door that led to the Great Hall. A shadow emerged suddenly before her, and a shrill voice reached her ears. Ginny didn't understand, didn't want to understand, didn't want to hear what that voice said. She felt the vibrations of a curse reaching her.

She closed her eyes, wondering if that was the end of it all. Still, her body sensed the familiar tingling of magic, and without even realizing it, Ginny Weasley cast the best non-verbal spell of her life.

* * *

Voldemort was duelling with McGonagall, Slughorn and Kingsley, and all-around Death Eaters and Hogwarts defenders fought against each other. Harry, hidden by the Invisibility Cloak, threw curses and protection spells on the way to get closer to the Dark Lord. But a chilling scene caught his attention.

Bellatrix Lestrange, not far from the group fighting against Voldemort, had trapped Ginny in the corner of the room. Her appearance was not at all good: pale and sweaty, her eyes shiny, one hand pressed on her outstretched belly and the other holding the wand. Harry immediately understood that something was wrong.

Ginny was working hard, but Bellatrix was an unbridled storm. A Mortal Curse had been thrown so close to Ginny that she missed it very little. Harry threw himself against Bellatrix instead of Voldemort. Still, after a few steps, a second curse was deflected by a shield spell that had suddenly appeared around Ginny.

Bellatrix laughed hysterically at the sight of the new charm. "You pregnant witch and your magic ..." she grinned.

"Go to hell!" Ginny yelled back. Harry watched the duel, faster and more devastating. The girl's lips didn't move, but magic swirled around her. Bellatrix Lestrange stopped smiling and her face twisted into a grin. Sparks of light flew from the sticks. The floor all around them crumbled due to the power released. Both fought to kill.

Ginny's willingness to kill was clearly dictated by the desire to protect her child. Harry, looking at her, saw the reflection of another mother who had defended her son. That image gripped what was most profound in his consciousness.

Hundreds of people, arranged along the walls of the Great Hall, observed the two battles: Voldemort against his three opponents, Bellatrix against Ginny. Bill and Ron approached their sister, but she refused any help. Harry, invisible, was torn between the desire to attack and that of protecting her. Protect them.

"What will Mommy and Daddy say when I kill you?" Bellatrix, despite having been fighting for some time, still managed to dodge Ginny's powerful curses. "When will you be dead like your big brother Freddie?"

"You bitch!" Ginny shouted, "You won't kill anyone... and above all, you won't kill my child!"

Bellatrix then laughed. It was the same exalted laugh that her cousin Sirius had made before falling over the veil, and Harry shivered at the memory. Ginny's powerful curse struck Bellatrix in the chest, in the heart. Her malignant smile suddenly died away, blood came out of her lips: she realized that she had been hit.

The crowd screamed just as Bellatrix's lifeless body fell to the ground. Harry believed that those seconds had slowed downtime: McGonagall, Kingsley and Slughorn were thrown into the air. The Dark Lord was in an instant near Ginny. The girl had collapsed on the floor with her arms around her belly. Voldemort raised his wand over her.

"Protego!" Harry yelled, and the shield spell materialized in the centre of the room. Voldemort, furious, turned his head trying to understand where it started from when Harry took off the Invisibility Cloak. Screams in surprise began to rise from across the room: "Harry!", "He's ALIVE!".

Soon the crowd became afraid again. The silence fell back. Voldemort and Harry looked at each other.

Later, when Tom Riddle collapsed on the floor, Harry realized that Voldemort was dead, killed by the rebound of his own curse.

A vibrant second of silence, the suspended amazement, then the turmoil exploded around Harry, the screams, the exultation and the roars of those present tore the air. The blazing new sun set fire to the windows, and every one advanced towards him. The first to reach him were Ron and Hermione, their arms enveloping him, their screams deafening him. Then Neville and Luna, and then the other Weasley and Hagrid, and Kingsley and McGonagall and Flitwick and Sprout; Harry couldn't understand a word of what they were screaming.

"Where's Ginny?" He anxiously asked Ron. 

"There." The boy pointed to the corner of the room, where Ginny was still sitting on the floor, Bill and Fleur trying to support her, while Molly embraced her daughter.

Harry ran towards her, making his way through the bodies of hundreds of people pressing against him. A thousand hands grabbed him, pulled him, tried to embrace him: hundreds were pressing against him, all determined to touch the Boy-Who-Has-Survived, the reason why it was really over ...

With difficulty, he approached Ginny, still lying on the floor. Despite her sweaty and tangled hair, her face pale and dirty from the dust of battle, she had never seemed more beautiful than that moment, even if a grimace of pain altered her features. He stopped a few steps away from her. Ginny's nightgown was wet, bloodstains spread over the fabric that adhered to her legs.

A nightgown, blood ... the echo of distant yet vivid memories made its way into Harry's mind. Bill supported his sister's chest, kneeling behind her, as he squeezed her hand tightly.

"What happens?" he asked Molly while Ron and Hermione had arrived in the meantime.

"She's in labour! " Molly exclaimed, as Harry took a few steps and knelt beside her, without taking his eyes off Ginny's pale face. Her huge brown eyes landed on him. The glimmer of a smile crossed her frightened face, and Harry smiled back. He was alive. Ginny was alive. The baby was about to be born. And Voldemort was dead. But her smile immediately fell, her face contracted in a grimace of pain.

Fleur returned with Madame Pomfrey. "How long has labour started?" he asked, kneeling between Ginny's open legs as she lifted her nightgown. Harry mumbled a spell, to hide the group of people squatting from the looks of the people who crowded the Great Hall. Bill met his gaze and nodded silently as if to thank him.

"Just?" Madame Pomfrey screamed in alarm "The struggle with Bellatrix must have accelerated the times. We have to take her to the infirmary, we can't have her giving birth in here! "

Ginny wasn't talking. The huge eyes moved from Madame Pomfrey to the mother, the terror that dimmed the brightness that usually pervaded them. Fleur raised her wand to cast the spell that would make Ginny levitate, but Molly put a hand on her wrist.

"No, no magic can be done when a witch is giving birth. It is too dangerous. We have to take her to the infirmary in the manner of Muggles. "

"I'll take her, Mom," Bill intervened, who put one arm around Ginny's shoulders and the other under her knees, lifting her up. She rested her head on her brother's chest, her arms tight around her belly, increasingly pale and without strength.

A small procession followed the older and younger of the Weasley siblings out of the Great Hall. Promptly after them, Madame Pomfrey and Molly scrambled, followed closely by Fleur. To anticipate Bill's steps was Percy, who made his way through the crowd and opened the doors to let them pass. Ron and Mr Weasley closed the procession, closely followed by Hermione.

After a few steps, Hermione heard a desperate sob behind her. She turned and saw Harry, still kneeling over Ginny's blood, trembling.

**Author's Note:**

> How do you think of it? Too much angst?  
> Thanks to whoever will find some time and words to appreciate my work.  
> English is not my language, so if you find any mistakes, please let me know them!


End file.
